


we should stick together (you're my best friend, i'll love you forever)

by dreamkinks



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, College, For the most part, Friends to Lovers, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, Jealous Oikawa Tooru, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nostalgia, iwaizumi is a bit of a himbo, oikawa is iwaizumi's gay awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25943590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamkinks/pseuds/dreamkinks
Summary: it goes along the lines of, "distance makes the heart grow fonder."[alternatively: tooru knew that they’d be going to different universities, but he hadn’t exactly processed what that meant before they went their separate ways.]
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 12
Kudos: 110





	we should stick together (you're my best friend, i'll love you forever)

**Author's Note:**

> omg my first haikyuu fic [shakes] 
> 
> i hope you all enjoy!

_“iwa-chan.”_

_“what is it, shittykawa?”_

_“CAN YOU NOT TELL BY MY VOICE THAT I WANT TO HAVE A MOMENT?”_

_“you think i actively try to figure out your intentions by the tone of your voice? i’ve tuned it out for so long now sometimes i don’t even know when you’re talking.”_

_“IWA-CHAN.”_

_“fine. what is it, captain?”_

_“i’m not your captain anymore…”_

_there’s a pause before hajime says, softer than he’s ever spoken to him before, “i think you always will be.”_

_and tooru was already trying so, so hard to keep in his tears, to not show how much this was affecting him. but he can’t help the sniffle and the rub at his nose. he absolutely cannot let hajime see his boogers._

_“are you saying you won’t forget me? that you'll still text me and call me and we can meet up at 3 am to eat milk bread at the park? iwa-chan, i didn’t know you were this sentimental.”_

_“milk bread tastes like shit, and you’re the one crying, who are you calling sentimental?” but he smiles regardless, holds out his pinky, and says, “of course.”_

tooru can’t understand why he’s thinking about all this now, when he’s rushing to finish a paper for one of his least favourite classes. it’s not like he _misses_ hajime or anything, but it’s still extremely weird to not have his childhood friend around 24/7 like he’s used to. though, he figures he shouldn’t still find this as strange, given that it’s been two months since they became college students. 

but he feels even more alone than he ever could’ve imagined. throughout his entire life, hajime was always beside him, the two of them a unit that never really moved without the other one in tow. he always knew that if he turned around even the littlest bit, hajime would be standing just slightly behind him, arms crossed or hands shoved in his pockets, an insult at the tip of his tongue no matter what would come out of tooru’s mouth. that’s how it had always been, but now, there was _nothing._ tooru almost felt as if he’d lost part of himself.

not being able to see hajime at all during school days is harder than he thought it would be. where he should be finding it easier to focus, he can’t help but daydream about what the other is doing; if he’s making friends, if he’s secretly failing his calculus class but doesn’t want to ask tooru for help. 

(of course, this doesn’t stop him from being at the top of basically all his classes, but it’s still very distracting.)

all these new fears and worries bothered him a lot more than he let on, but he didn’t want to annoy hajime either, so he kept them to himself. being able to still keep in contact with his best friend would satisfy him enough for now.

so, in spite of the fact that his deadline is rapidly approaching and he’s barely done any of the edits necessary, tooru calls hajime. 

it’s already a bit late—past 11, which is when hajime likes to go to bed when he has no plans for the next day. tooru knows this because he was forced to do the same when he started overworking himself at late night practices. but tooru is hoping that just this once, hajime won’t listen to his body, is awake and procrastinating just like him, just so he can lean on the familiarity of hearing his voice.

being so far away from home, this was one of the few things he knew he could count on whenever the overwhelming feeling of homesickness would wash over him; whenever he calls, hajime picks up. 

_“what. the fuck. do you want.”_

“is that really anyway to greet your best friend, iwa-chan? i’m incredibly hurt right now. here i was, thinking that you must miss me _so_ much because i’ve been drowning in papers and haven’t had the time to call, but instead all i get is hostility.” 

_“i’ve got some shit due in the morning so i wanted to sleep early, not hear your shitty voice.”_

tooru kind of, almost, feels bad. “you’re saying that as if your dreams won’t be 100 times better if you hear my voice before you fall asleep!”

he doesn’t understand why hajime goes quiet, but reasons with himself that he must just be too tired to insult him. _“did you need something, tooru?”_

he frowns when hajime calls him by his first name, which they typically reserve only for when they’re around family, even if it does slip out from time to time when they’re alone. “iwa-chan, didn’t you hear me? i’m gracing you with my virtual presence so that you don’t get sports science brain rot.”

hajime is silent for too long again, and tooru starts to wonder if maybe he really shouldn’t have called, if he’s bothering him, if iwa-chan doesn’t want to talk to him anymore when—

_“are you lonely, tooru?”_

he feels his breath hitch and hopes to god that hajime didn’t hear it. “what are you saying, iwa-chan?” he gives a dry laugh, a slumbering anxiety beginning to wake in the pit of his stomach ever so slowly. “i’m the main character, how could i ever be lonely? people fall all over themselves trying to talk to me, i can barely catch a break!”

what is with iwa-chan and these dramatic pauses today?

_“... i have some time off next weekend. do you want me to come visit?”_

“... yeah. let’s go to miyagi.”

_“okay.”_

“okay. goodnight, iwa-chan.”

_“goodnight, loserkawa.”_

tooru spends a long time trying to hold back his tears before he finishes his paper, submitting it, and getting a 100 on it later that week. 

* * *

it hasn’t been long since they left, but tooru still can’t wrap his head around the fact that miyagi is still the same even without them around. 

hajime snorts when he says this. “dude, you _actually_ think you’re the main character? i knew you were arrogant, but this is a lot, even for you.”

he feels mildly hurt and hits hajime’s arm with very little force. “mean! first of all, i am _not_ arrogant, and second, how could i _not_ be the main character? who else is even close to as interesting as i am here?”

his former vice captain cocks an eyebrow at him and nods his head at something behind him. tooru turns, only to see a poster of chibi-chan and tobio-chan with the words, ‘MIYAGI’S PRIDE, THE CROWS OF KARASUNO’ on it. 

he scowls so hard that hajime almost falls over laughing. 

“holy shit, you’re actually pissed! hold on, don’t move, i need to take a picture—“

_“hajime,_ don’t you dare.” 

“perfect! i’m sending this to the team and ushiwaka.”

_“why do you have shittywaka’s number?!”_

hajime breathes out the last of his laugh and looks at tooru confusedly. “did i forget to tell you? we’re at the same university.”

tooru feels like his whole world is crumbling right before him. 

“iwa-chan—you— _IWAIZUMI HAJIME._ you need to change schools right now.” 

the elder laughs as he types away quickly on his phone. “yeah, and go where exactly? no other school in japan even comes close to ours for this program.” 

“ugh!” tooru huffs, crossing his arms and stomping his feet like a child about to have a tantrum. “just come to my school! or, actually, move in with me and get a part time job and when i become an olympian, i’ll make enough money to support both of us and our cats!”

hajime is looking at him as if he’s grown another head. “are you saying you want me to be a housewife?”

“uh, _duh?”_

“you do realize between the two of us you are obviously the housewife, right?”

“how is that even possible! have you ever heard of a housewife being the main character?!”

“why don’t you set the standard as the first?”

tooru visibly considers it for a moment, but is forced to drop the subject when they finally spot mattsun and makki. not because they can’t joke around about this with them, but because it’s too early for him to get ganged up on by all of his friends.

(he actively avoids thinking about the fact that hajime didn’t object to living together, making one of them a housewife, and having multiple cats.) 

“welcome home, losers!” hanamaki says with an excited smile and arms open wide. hajime gives him one of those ugly looking bro hugs and fistbumps matsukawa. 

“makki-chan!” tooru cries, falling into his friend's arms dramatically. “take me away from this place! i can’t put up with iwa-chan’s insults for much longer! can you see it? my lifespan decreasing?”

“good,” hajime says, walking alongside mattsun to wherever they must’ve parked. mattsun nods his head in agreement.

_“wow_ iwa-chan, just _wow._ so this is what decades of friendship gets me.”

hanamaki laughs and claps him on the back. “to be fair, i always thought that you had blackmailed iwaizumi into it.” 

the three of them burst out laughing and tooru is simply _baffled_ at this sudden revelation of what his friends actually think of him. “why do i even hang out with you monsters?!”

“because we’re the only ones who put up with your shit.” matsukawa answers, climbing into the driver's seat. 

“i’ll have you know, someone tried to sell my shit on ebay once!”

“why are you proud of that..?”

* * *

miyagi really is the same as always. the grass is luscious and green, the children bubbly and excited, the streets crowded enough but never overly so. tooru thinks a lot about how familiar and unfamiliar it is as he walks around aimlessly, wanting nothing more than to be submerged within what he had always known. 

somehow, he ends up at aoba johsai. 

the weather is getting hot, summer vacation just around the corner. if he’s being honest, they could’ve put off this trip for a few more weeks. tooru would’ve been happy just having hajime to himself for two days. yet he also yearned for the comfort of his home, the place he lived in for so long he could draw a map from his memory. 

it was the same in this school, whose halls he knew every inch of. he knew the best places to hide in between classes to read the latest porn mag makki would pick up. he knew which toilets were the furthest from classes so one could take a shit, or cry without reserve, or both. he knew that if you dug around a bit in the flower beds at the back of the school you’d find secret packs of cigarettes for when they all wanted to gain some _experience._ he knew that the key to their time capsule resides in a locker, never used, and never offered up to newcomers. 

all these little things imprinted on his brain, memories that he’s sure one day he would forget but for now make him feel whole. 

he’s sitting on a bench in the courtyard when the sound of feet against pavement brings his attention back to reality and outside of his head. 

“is something wrong?” hajime asks before he’s even in tooru’s view. 

he only sighs, tilting his head back over the bench until he can see his oldest friend’s face upside down. “maybe.” 

hajime stops behind him, head tilted down right over tooru’s, but with a margin of space between them. “let me guess: the oh-so-great oikawa, known for being able to adapt to anyone on any team, is struggling to adapt to his new college life.”

“to be fair,” tooru says, eyebrows furrowed though he isn’t disagreeing, “you were always around. so, it’s not like i was ever really by myself and trying to take on the world.”

he’s a little surprised himself at his own admission, and thinks hajime looks really cute with surprise coloured on his features. “you—” but he doesn’t finish, a blush rushing from his cheeks to the tips of his ears. he turns away and moves to sit next to tooru. “i hate you.”

“hold on? i just said something super heartfelt there, didn't i? why do you _hate_ me?!”

hajime groans and tilts his head back like tooru had done, hands covering his face and pulling at the hair near his forehead. tooru is sitting up now and frowning at him, trying to figure out when his cute iwa-chan got so mean. it wasn’t that long ago that hajime had promise to keep him safe, from bullies and bugs alike, but now it was as if he was the greatest threat to tooru’s life. 

“i don’t actually hate you.”

it’s mumbled, because hajime is both embarrassed and still covering his face with his hands, but tooru has known him long enough to be able to decipher what he’s trying to say even when he forms half-sentences in his sleep. 

“of course you don’t. i’m _oikawa tooru,_ after all, the number one most likeable person probably in the entire world.” 

he gets a glare for this. “to _who?_ i take it back. i _do_ hate you. drop dead.”

tooru fakes getting shot, falling dramatically over hajime’s lap. (which is totally not an excuse to lie down on his thunder thighs, what?) “iwa-chan, every day you wound me with your words! i can’t take it anymore! we’re breaking up!”

hajime scowls at him but doesn’t push him off. “we were never together, dumbass. get off of me.”

“no! and don’t you _dare_ start flexing your thighs under my head— _iwa-chan!_ stop it! you’re _so_ not cute.”

although reluctantly, hajime relaxes his legs once again. his elbows are resting on the back of the bench they’ve taken over, and he’s staring at tooru like he’s trying to figure out what to do next. “what’s wrong, iwa-chan? is my beauty so distracting that you can’t even find the— _mmf!”_

he cannot believe that hajime used tooru’s own shirt to try and gag him. “can you stop talking, like, forever?” hajime says before loosening his grip. tooru closes his eyes to cough a bit and misses the way hajime’s eyes trail to where tooru’s stomach is still exposed.

“you just tried to kill me!”

“if i was trying to kill you, you would be dead, idiotkawa.” hajime is staring down at him with an expression that screams disgust, but tooru can see it in his eyes that he’s two seconds from bolting to get tooru some water in case he _actually_ hurt him. “you never answered my question.”

he immediately knows he’s referring to their phone call, and tooru’s pathetic attempt at a joke to conceal his insecurities. he turns his head away from hajime, looking out at the school where he used to run around without a care in the world, or for the future. in retrospect, it really hasn’t been that long since they left, but that time feels so far behind them already and tooru is— _sad._ “of course i’m lonely, iwa-chan. don’t get me wrong, it’s not like i don’t have any friends, or like the team isn’t good. even though i’m still only second string, i’m enjoying it well enough. but it’s like there’s…”

“yeah.” hajime finishes for him, knowing what he’s about to say because he feels the same. _there’s no one else that understands me like you._

“don’t you think it’s stupid? i mean, we’re not _kids._ shouldn’t we be over this by now?”

he feels the sigh hajime lets out more than he hears it. “well, you have your own issues so i can’t really say i’m surprised, mr. _i-refuse-to-let-anyone-see-my-real-face._ aren’t you sick of pretending? wouldn’t it be easier to just… let go?”

something in tooru’s throat tightens. because as much as hajime knows him, there are still things he keeps hidden within a deep, dark corner of his heart that not even his best friend can open. things that he’s scared would push hajime away from him, despite the fact that they’ve seen each other at their ugliest, their most hateful, their absolute _worst._

but tooru is scared. he has been for years. 

_i love you, iwa-chan._

how could he ever say that?

“well, what about you? to me it sounded like you were getting along with ushiwaka-chan _swimmingly._ if you’re going to abandon me for him, i’ll never forgive you, you know?”

he gets an eye roll, and the softest smack hajime has given him since they were kids. “even if i up and left the country, you’re so clingy that i’m sure you’d find a way to track me down no matter where i went. how could i abandon you, dumbass?”

tooru wants to feels reassured, wants so badly to be comforted by his best friend’s words. but he can’t help thinking that hajime wouldn’t be saying this if he knew how much he actually meant to him. 

he doesn’t have the heart to go there now. 

“why must you insult me even when we’re having a heart to heart!”

“says the heartless one.”

“iwa-chan is so _mean!”_

* * *

hajime leaves first. he has a longer trip, going all the way from miyagi back to fukuoka. tooru still doesn’t understand why he went to the other side of the country. he’s cried internally over it (and, okay, a little externally). it’s _so_ far away. the only plus side is that he’s in tokyo, which puts him right in between hajime and his hometown. but still.

he does at least manage to find time to hand hajime his birthday gift, which had been burning a hole in his bag for the past few months. it’s a small figurine of godzilla, the one he knew hajime had been looking at for a while because it would complete his (in tooru’s eyes, very strange) collection of monster figurines. it didn’t feel all that sentimental, but hajime seemed so happy that tooru was satisfied enough.

waving goodbye to him from the train platform still hurts like a bitch, though.

tooru does not think that distance makes the heart grow fonder. he feels like he’s being torn to pieces.

on one hand, spending time away from hajime gives him room to breathe and not question every single interaction, hoping hajime will drop some hints that he likes tooru back. the only problem is that not spending time with hajime makes oikawa feel like he’ll shrivel up and die. cause of death? lack of contact.

“i’m guessing you didn’t tell him, then?” sawamura says when tooru walks into their dorm room late sunday night, promptly falling onto his bed face first. 

tooru clicks his tongue and turns his head so he can see his roommate, who’s sitting with his back against the wall and typing away on his laptop. “dai-chan, you couldn’t even give me five minutes before reminding me that i am an epic failure?”

sawamura snorts, glancing up at tooru over his laptop screen before shaking his head. “if you’re an epic failure, i don’t even want to know what _i_ am.” still, he sighs and says, simple as always, “what’s the worst thing that’ll happen if you tell him? you two are as inseparable as the monster duo.”

“chibi-chan and tobio-chan being inseparable is not a good thing, must i remind you,” tooru points out, and sawamura shrugs in mild agreement. “but we’ve never even like… _talked_ about that kind of stuff. i don’t know. i mean, i didn't want to know, anyway.”

sawamura hums, closing his laptop screen slightly so he can look directly at tooru. “oikawa-kun, throughout all of high school, to me you looked like someone who was willing to take a risk even if you only believed it had a 5% chance of success. i think the worst thing you could do is go the rest of your life without knowing what iwaizumi-san thinks of you.”

deep down, tooru knows he’s right. but the fear of seeing genuine disgust on hajime’s face, being wholeheartedly rejected and cut off, makes tooru feel sick to his stomach.

he can’t lose hajime. not over something as insignificant as his feelings.

  
  


**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_oi_

_answer me dipshit_

_i need help asap_

**you**

_iwa-chan?_

_WHATS WRONG_

_OMG r u dying_

_NO_

_IWA-CHAN_

_U CANT DIE ON ME_

_#WTF #CRYINGSOHARD #DONTLEAVEME_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_???_

_dumbass i’m not dying_

_wtf_

_who uses hashtags over text???_

**you**

_ur old man-ness is showing_

_next thing i know ur going 2 be bald 😭💔😢_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_are you saying you wouldn’t like me if i was bald_

  
  


tooru stares at the message for way too long, trying to figure out if there’s a hidden meaning behind his words. he very belatedly realizes that they have each other’s read receipts on. 

  
  


**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_… shittykawa_

_answer me tf_

**you**

_sry! dai-chan asked me smtg (＞人＜;)_

_what’s wrong??_

_u never ask me 4 help ʕʘ‿ʘʔ_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_do you remember karasuno’s manager? the one with dark hair_

**you**

_yes.. kiyoko shimizu-chan ?___?_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_oh_

_that’s it_

_thank you_

**you**

_???_

_why do u ask_

_iwa-chan???????_

_rude |(￣3￣)|_

_i dont like u_

_hmph ＼＼\٩(๑`^´๑)۶//／／_

  
  


“oikawa-kun, please stop screaming.”

“unfortunately, if i don’t scream i will burst into tears, dai-chan!” tooru yells, though at a lower volume.

sawamura sighs and pushes his glasses up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “and why is that, oikawa-kun?”

tooru growls, throwing his pillow at sawamura’s head. “It’s _because_ iwa-chan is about to start dating your fucking manager!” saying the words aloud makes him gasp, wide-eyed, tears threatening to spill over, like he’s only just now processing what he’s said. “dai-chan, what do i _do?”_

his roommate gets up from his desk and moves to sit next to tooru on his bed. “woah, calm down, oikawa-kun, how do you know he wants to _date_ her? they’re at the same school, so it’s inevitable that they’d run into each other, right?”

but it’s as if his words are going in one ear and out the other as tooru slams his fists against sawamura’s shoulder. “there’s no way! iwa-chan sucks at making friends! dai-chan, he’s going to _leave me!”_

tooru’s eyes are closed as he furiously tries to keep his tears at bay, but the sound of sawamura typing gets his attention. he sniffs and tries to look over, a muffled, “what are you doing? you better not be tweeting about this.” tumbling from his lips. 

“i’m texting kiyoko-chan.”

his mouth falling open, tooru backs away from his once roommate-newly-turned-enemy with a loud gasp. “you’re working with the _traitors?!”_ he yells in accusation, a shaky finger pointed in sawamura’s direction. all this time, he’d thought they’d left their rivalry in the past; was he wrong from the start?! had he been _played?!_

sawamura barely even glances at him, expression confused. “what are you saying? i’m trying to find out if anything is actually happening between them or if you’re just overreacting.”

he’s mildly offended that sawamura even thinks there’s a chance that he could be overreacting, but pushes the thought away when he realizes he has an in to their relationship through someone else. “well... what is she saying…? not that i care.”

he’s sent a look that very explicitly reads as _are you being serious right now?_ and pointedly ignores it. “read it for yourself.”

**daichi**

_Hey, word on the grapevine is that you met up with Iwaizumi-san?_

**kiyoko**

_ah, we met up in the library by accident_

_we didn’t talk much tbh_

**daichi**

_Cool._

_You interested?_

**kiyoko**

_lolol what kind of bad joke is that lolol_

_as if i’d have a chance anyway_

_ur roomie is the only one for him_

**daichi**

_He mentioned Oikawa?_

  
  


(tooru is a little hurt that hajime gets a _-san_ and he doesn’t, but brushes over it to continue reading the conversation.)

  
  


**kiyoko**

_do you think he can go five minutes without mentioning him?_

_those two are worse than kenma and hinata_

  
  


“hold on, _kenma?_ the chibi from nekoma?”

“ah,” sawamura says thoughtfully, like he’d just remembered something. “i don’t know if they still haven’t made anything official but, well… you could say that they’re… a tad obsessed with each other, i guess.”

tooru is stunned by this revelation. “no way, i _totally_ thought chibi-chan would be all over kageyama!”

sawamura laughs, shaking his head a bit. “i mean, he kind of is, but kenma is here in tokyo after all so they can only text and talk about each other, rather than meet up in person all the time. they’ve got some kind of poly situation going on i think? i don’t know. i try not to get invested.” he shuts his phone and tosses it aside, turning fully towards tooru. “so? relieved?”

he frowns, the wheels in his brain turning at a million miles per second. “okay, sure, shimizu-chan says there’s nothing. that doesn’t mean that iwa-chan doesn’t _want_ there to be something.”

“did you text him about it?” sawamura asks. tooru flops onto his back, staring at their ceiling with a scowl. 

“yes, but he stopped answering me.”

his roommate lets out a little laugh and pats tooru’s leg twice, getting up to head back to his desk and finish whatever it was that tooru interrupted. “you know iwaizumi-san has a life right?”

“who do you even think iwa-chan is? his entire life revolves around me.”

sawamura gives him a look that tooru can’t really decipher, but doesn’t add onto the subject. “sure, oikawa-kun.”

his phone buzzes a few minutes later. 

  
  


**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_sorry_

_phone died_

_we met by accident but i forgot her name…_

_asshole move_

**you**

_OMG ! ! !_

_iwa-chan i always believed u ;__; sniff_

_ur the only one 4 me ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_wtf are you talking about_

_you seriously think there’s someone else out there that can handle your bullshit_

**you**

_is this ur way of confessing that u r the only one 4 me_

_lets elope iwa-chan (^з^)-☆_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_im going to puke. seriously._

**you**

_excuse u_

_it wld be a privilege to marry me ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ_

_u think another OIKAWA TOORU exists in this world?!_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_i fucking hope not_

_the world would burn from the sheer amount of stupidity you both hold_

**you**

_WTF._

_ur just jealous_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_can't really be jealous of someone with a flat ass tbh_

**you**

_Don't text me ever again._

_I HATE YOU IWAIZUMI._

_U KNOW THIS IS A SENSITIVE SUBJECT TO ME._

  
  


hajime sends back a meme of a dog with the thug life glasses on. tooru promptly rolls his eyes, shoving his face into his pillow to hide how much he’s smiling.

* * *

tooru hates to admit it, but he’s always been a bit of a crybaby.

when he was a kid, everything would scare him, and he often clung to his mother’s leg when he got nervous. the world was so big and he was barely three feet tall. who knew what lay out there waiting to eat him up? 

he also got hurt a lot. the sound of laughter regularly turned to crying in his backyard. one of his parents would always rush out, try to console him, and wipe the tears from his eyes. his parents never made fun of him for crying, always telling him, “sometimes you need to cry, and that’s okay.” 

but kids at school didn’t like crybabies that much, and so tooru didn’t have that many friends. he was still nice to everyone, and tried really hard to keep the tears in. but his sniffs would always give him away. he couldn’t help it; it felt like everyone was so much better than him, and he was worried they would all leave him behind!

“tooru, say hello,” his mother said to him one day. they stood on the porch, tooru’s tiny hands clinging to the fabric of his mother’s pretty summer dress. “these are our new neighbours. look, they even have a son that’s your age.”

at the mention of another kid, tooru peeked his head around ever so slightly. a boy slightly taller than him, tanner than him, and with unruly, unusually spiky hair was doing the same. when their eyes met, the boy straightened up a bit, nodding his head meekly in tooru’s direction. tooru copied him, before looking up at his mother and tugging at the hem of her dress. 

he absolutely adored his mother. she was always there for him no matter what, wanting nothing more for her son than for him to be happy. she’d always been especially good at reading him, even when he didn’t say anything. she would say _i know everything about you because i made you._ “tooru wants to know if he and hajime-kun can go play, i believe.” she said to hajime’s parents with a little chuckle. when they agreed, tooru shyly reached out, grabbing hajime’s hand and tugging him away so he could bring him to the nearest park. their parents called after them to be careful. they shot them back timid, gap-toothed smiles.

“i’m iwaizumi hajime. what’s your name?” hajime asked as they walked, still holding hands. “do you like bugs?”

“m-my name is tooru.. oikawa tooru,” he answered shyly, face twisting in disgust. “i don’t like bugs. they look weird.”

“no they don’t! bugs are so cool!” hajime retorted, bouncing a little in the sand when they finally made it to the park. “look, tooru, look! it’s a cicada!”

hajime ran up to a nearby tree, and out of curiosity for what made his new neighbour so happy, tooru slowly followed. “that’s a cicada? how do you know?”

“my dad,” hajime said, a wide smile on his tiny face. “he got me lots and lots of books about bugs! he said i have to kill them all for my mom. i think that’s mean though. i catch them and let them back outside!”

and really, tooru had always thought that bugs were the grossest, weirdest, creepiest things in the whole world, but hearing hajime talk about them so happily made him feel weirdly good. “you’re really nice to bugs.”

“of course! we need bugs to survive.” hajime said it so matter of factly. tooru, an impressionable five year old, listened with great interest to the person he was starting to think may have been the smartest kid he’s ever met, other than his dad and his brother. skirting the sides of the sandbox where all the trees were planted, tooru followed closely as they scoured the place for even more insects. “bugs help make our food, and plant flowers and trees. plus, there’s bugs that get rid of even more dangerous bugs!”

“wow! i had no idea bugs were so important!” tooru bends down, looking curiously at a small mound where ants were coming in and out. “they’re still kind of creepy, though.”

hajime crouches next to him, eyes trained on the ant hill with wonder in his eyes like tooru has never seen before. “well, bugs can’t choose how they look. they’re just born that way. you can’t change the way someone is born, right?”

although they’re the same age, tooru feels like he’s learned more from hajime in thirty minutes than he had in all of kindergarten. “kind of like us?”

“exactly! my dad says that we’re all born exactly the way we should be.”

“your dad sounds really smart!”

hajime laughs, loud and proud. “i think he is! he teaches me everything.” he stands up then, holding his hand out to tooru. “hey, do you want to be best friends?”

tooru practically jumps for joy, foregoing the handshake and wrapping his arms around hajime in a big hug. “of course! let’s be best friends forever!”

* * *

they only manage to see each other at the end of the summer. 

tooru is more than a little annoyed that his coaches decided to spend three of their four week vacation doing a training camp, even though he learned a lot of new techniques from their current starting setter. it also just so happened that ohira, one of shiratorizawa’s strongest defenders, was on his team, and they spent a good amount of time critiquing each other’s serves. but other than that, he was _seriously_ unimpressed. 

overall, tooru is always more than happy to get some good training in and work on his technique, because he has a natural need to constantly become _better._ but this is also one of the only times he’s ever trained so intensely without hajime screaming at him to rest, wear his knee brace, eat proper meals, get a good night’s rest. 

he had to try really hard to make it seem like he enjoyed it. 

the wait at the train station is a long one. 

he and hajime had agreed to meet in tokyo and take the train home together. sawamura had also gone back to miyagi. but when they had met, sawamura made it clear he wasn’t going to join the volleyball team, and so he had left earlier. tooru understands that not everyone is as passionate about volleyball as he is, but it was still a bit of a shock. 

“i’m sure the team here is good,” sawamura had said, his back turned towards tooru as they were in the middle of unpacking. “but my favourite memories will always be with them.”

tooru didn’t push, but every once in a while they would go out and do mini-games with ohira and yaku. they were a bit of a random bunch, but each of them was skilled enough that their mock games were almost as enjoyable as real ones. 

_a real game…_

tooru wonders if he and hajime would face off against each other at any point during the next three years. the thought of it makes him so nervous yet excited that he almost can’t get his grin under control.

“you look like such a creep right now.”

he yelps, hands coming up to block his chest as a reflex. he hadn’t even seen hajime approach him, but now that he’s within his view, tooru wants nothing more than to wrap his arms around him and kiss him so hard he goes stupid. 

“iwa-chan!” he cries, standing up with a bounce. “first of all, i’m too pretty to look creepy. second, yay! i missed you!”

hajime looks as if he’s seconds from punching tooru in the face, but he’s got his suitcase in one hand and a convenience store bag in the other. “why didn’t you start with the fact that you missed me?”

it’s a hard task to force his blush down but tooru manages somehow. “well, i can’t go around inflating your ego now, can i?” he says, his lips pulled into a stupid smile that only makes hajime scowl harder.

“i don’t want to take the train with you anymore. walk to miyagi for all i care.”

“WHAT? okay, okay, iwa-chan i’m sorry! i didn’t mean it! look, i’ll even let you punch me— _ow!_ were you just waiting for me to say that?!”

“not really. i was gonna do it anyway. kind of helps that i always know what you’re thinking.”

“oh yeah? then tell me, mr. psychic, what am i thinking right now?”

“you’re wondering what’s in the bag,” hajime says without even stopping to think about it. when tooru doesn’t respond, he turns to see the other staring at him in mild annoyance. “yep, i totally know you.” 

by this point they’ve reached the platform for their train, which is already starting to board. they hurry to their seats, and hajime doesn’t put up a fight when tooru scrambles in first so he can have the one next to the window. he’s used to this by now. “so are you going to tell me what’s in it or not?”

he watches as hajime fixes himself, trying to find a comfortable position. “semi made me buy the milk bread at the train station, he said it’s ‘some of the best in the country’. pretty sure he just wanted free food, and i was getting other stuff anyway so…”

hajime pulls out a pack and tooru nearly starts drooling on the spot before something hits him. “hold on, semi eita? you’re cheating on me and buying food for other people? _you buy milk bread for non-oikawa’s?!”_

he gets an elbow to the ribs, hajime quickly shushing him because they’re in _public._ “semi and i are friends, of course every once in a while i’ll get him something? it’s just a coincidence that you both like milk bread.”

“no,” tooru denies immediately, crossing his arms angrily. “unfriend him right now.”

“i’m not going to do that, crappykawa.”

“so you’re choosing him over me?!”

hajime gives him a look that almost makes tooru feel bad for his dramatics. “why do you only hate ushiwaka and semi but not ohira? they’re all from the same team. and you were fine with semi before he and i went to the same school.”

his shoulders slump, and he pouts like a child, dutifully turning his head away from hajime to look out at the buildings in the distance. he’s not in the mood to deal with logic, not when everything about his jealousy is illogical. “forget it!”

it’s been a long time since tooru and hajime last sat in awkward silence. or maybe he’s the only one that thinks it’s awkward; hajime has an airpod in and is listening to some podcast that tooru doesn’t really care about. the first half of the train ride passes like this, with tooru angrily munching on the milk bread (which, he has to admit, is _way_ better than any of the ones in miyagi, and most that he’s tried in tokyo) and hajime not giving him even a second of attention. 

finally, he can’t take it anymore. he’s an attention whore by nature. 

“ugh!” he groans, whipping his head to look over at hajime. hajime doesn’t look up from his phone, but tilts his head in tooru’s direction to show that he heard his childlike cry. “give me that.” tooru reaches over, grabbing the airpod case out of hajime’s pocket and forcefully shoving the other pair into his ear. “i’m sorry, iwa-chan. do you have any anime downloaded on netflix?”

he’s aiming for nonchalant, but tooru is genuinely worried that he may have gone overboard. looking back on it, hasn’t he been trying to keep hajime to himself a little too much? the more he thinks about it, the worse he feels for sawamura, and resolves with himself to get him dinner when they go back to campus.

“there’s a few episodes of saiki k.”

“i haven’t seen that.”

“that’s okay. it’s funny.”

they spend the rest of the train ride pressed closer against each other, tooru’s head on hajime’s shoulder, random action scenes bursting across the screen. 

at one point, near the end of the episode, hajime gets a text from matsukawa. tooru doesn’t have time to read it because hajime is swiping it away faster than he’s probably ever seen. which is strange, because hajime has never hidden much from tooru, especially not when it comes to conversations with their mutual friends. but oikawa is anxious, and feeling like he’s already been _a lot_ even though they’ve only been together for a little over an hour, so he doesn’t ask about it. 

“this dude is annoying,” he comments instead, when a character with purple hair and a beaded necklace appears on screen. 

“you and him are exactly alike, minus the psychic powers,” hajime retorts without missing a beat. 

“is that seriously what you think of me?! that i’d use ghosts to help me get a girlfriend?!”

“prove that you wouldn’t.”

“well, first of all, i don’t _want_ a _girlfriend—”_

fuck. tooru snaps his mouth shut immediately. why the fuck did he _say_ that?

he tries to backtrack as fast as he can. he knows how it sounds, and in actuality, it’s exactly what he _means,_ but he doesn’t want to have this conversation right now. not on a crowded train full of strangers, not when he isn’t sure where hajime stands on the subject. “haha, you know, cause like! i’m just _so_ busy that i don’t have time to take care of anyone! haha! volleyball brain rot or whatever, right?”

without realizing, tooru has pulled away completely from hajime, the cool window pressing up against his back that is slowly starting to soak itself in cold sweat. hajime is staring at him, his expression indiscernible, and _wow, okay, not being able to read him is really fucking terrifying. oh fuck. oh god. please kill him now._

“tooru,” hajime says lowly and his entire body goes stiff. fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. tooru’s brain has stopped working. he can barely hear anything over his own heartbeat. he vaguely registers the sensation of warm hands wrapping around his now-cold ones, but is too scared to look down and confirm if they’re his best friend’s or not.

“it’s okay. i get it. i don’t—” his breath hitches, like hajime is afraid of what he’s about to say next, mulling over the words briefly before he continues. “i don’t. um. care. if… you know what i mean...”

the billions of voices ringing in tooru’s head come to a sudden, eerie stop. he stares at hajime like he’s suddenly got another head, the words playing over in his mind on repeat as he tries to make sense of what it means.

and it really is as if hajime can read his mind, because seconds later there’s a search engine opened on his phone and all that’s typed in is _pansexual._ hajime is also very obviously trying not to look at oikawa. the beginnings of a dark, scarlet red blush slowly envelop his entire face. 

“wait—”

_“attention all passengers, we have arrived in miyagi. please make sure you have all your belongings before you disembark the train.”_

“c’mon, lets go.” 

they disembark quickly but tooru is so tense he barely registers any of it. he knows that hajime’s mother is here to pick them up, and that he probably grunts out a quick hello, but his heart is beating so fast he can barely breathe. 

in a moment of panic, he texts hanamaki. 

**you**

_hanamaki_

**makkimakki**

_no nickname??_

_oh man_

_what’s wrong dude?_

**you**

_did you know_

_that iwa-chan_

_was like_

_…_

_yknow_

**makkimakki**

_oikawa i can’t read your mind like he can_

_what are you trying to say_

**you**

_…_

_didyouknowthathe’snotstraight_

**makkimakki**

_i mean…_

_kind of…_

  
  


and for some reason, tooru is mildly hurt by this. he knows he shouldn’t be, because he didn’t tell hajime what his sexuality was either, but why did other people know? was hajime not comfortable telling him? or did he and tooru share the same fears?

  
  


**makkimakki**

_don’t freak out_

_it just slipped out once_

_he didn’t mean to tell me_

_and he wanted to tell you i think…_

_but you know how he is_

_the only thing he’s good at is talking about you_

  
  


tooru doesn’t know if that makes him feel better or worse, but he doesn’t have time to think about it. 

  
  


**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_okay_

_dumbass_

_i don’t want to talk about this_

_but you look like you’re about to hurl_

_did i do something wrong_

**you**

_NO_

_no i just_

_i wasn’t expecting any of that_

_and i_

_i’m sorry for freaking out_

_i didn’t know how to tell you and i was really surprised_ _~~and i was scared that you would hate me and~~ _

_and i wasn’t ready_

_to tell you_

_idk_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_that’s okay_

_i’m sorry_

_i don’t really have good timing do i…_

**you**

_stop it_

_it’s not your fault_

_i’m_

_happy that you told me at all_

_… when did you know_

  
  


he can’t tell if the question is overstepping, but he’s also so curious it’s eating him alive. has he known for long and kept it from tooru all these years? did he just find out and ask someone else for advice? tooru has so many questions and he doesn’t know how to ask them all. he doesn’t want to make hajime feel weird, because in truth, this _is_ a really good thing and he _is_ happy hajime told him. he just can’t help wondering. 

  
  


**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_it hasn’t been that long_

_probably… since graduation??_

  
  


four whole months. that really wasn’t long. not to mention they hadn’t even seen each other that much within that time frame, and hajime’s the type to want to say something like that in person. the more he thinks about it, the more he can feel his heartbeat slowing, but years old anxiety is still sitting in his bones, waiting.

  
  


**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_um…_

_you were kind of vague before_

_if you don’t want to talk about it that’s okay_

_but uh_

_i support you or whatever idk what the fuck i’m supposed to say_

  
  


part of him wants to start crying right then and there. why is hajime so pure of heart. what did tooru ever do to deserve him.

  
  


**you**

_bi_

_but like_

_more guys_

_and_

_since middle school_

_…_

_you can call me your homo sensei_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_how do you always manage to ruin the moment_

**you**

_iwa-chan, are you saying you want to have a moment with me? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_you’re insufferable_

**you**

_don’t be like that iwa-chan >3> _

_u love me_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_unfortunately_

**you**

_who r u and what have u done w my iwa-chan?!_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_i take it back_

_never saying it again_

_i hate you shittykawa_

**you**

_2 be fair i said it 4 you so_

**iwa-chan （＾＿＾）☆**

_do you want to die right now?_

  
  


“i thought the two of you would be tired after your trip but look at how much you’re texting,” hajime’s mom comments. tooru lets out a small laugh, finally looking up from his phone and realizing they’re nearing his home. 

“hajime is just bullying me as per usual,” tooru says, catching hajime’s eyes in the mirror and winking at him mischievously. 

he only gets an eye roll back, hajime’s options of how to get back at tooru extremely limited when he’s sitting up front. “mom, why did you force me to be friends with him? he’s lying to you, _i’m_ the one suffering here.” 

his mom only laughs and reaches a hand out to pat her son’s knee. before long, they’re pulling up to the oikawa residence. “are you coming over later, tooru?” she asks as he’s grabbing his bags. 

“i think my mom wants me to spend one night in my own bed for once,” he says with a laugh, before turning to hajime. “can hajime come in for a bit, auntie?”

“of course. i’ll bring your bags home, okay honey?” hajime nods and kisses his mother’s cheek quickly before hopping out. 

they watch her drive off, not quite ready to enter the house yet, a weird atmosphere enveloping them. tooru had invited him, but what was he supposed to say now?

“so,” hajime starts, hands shoved into his pockets, no doubt so he won’t start picking at his nails. it’s one of his worst and oldest habits. 

“so,” tooru repeats but he doesn’t have much to add on. “wanna watch cowboys vs. aliens?”

“that movie is fucking garbage.” 

“to _you!”_

* * *

“so like, did someone who’s not a girl confess to you or something, and that’s how you knew?”

“well… kind of, i guess. at first i thought it had to be a joke, but the more i thought about it, the less i cared that they weren’t a girl.”

“are you going to tell me who it is?”

“dumbass, do you think i want to be charged as an accomplice to murder?”

tooru groans, flopping back against his bed. they’re sitting on the floor of his bedroom, a bowl of popcorn and some other snacks scattered around, watching the movie on tooru’s laptop. he can’t say that they’re paying a lot of attention to it, though. it’s mostly being used to block out their conversation from anyone else in the house.

“wait,” he says, eyebrows furrowing and a small frown forming on his face. “does that mean i know who it is?”

hajime promptly turns away from him. 

“no fucking way,” tooru says, and he really doesn’t curse often, but this is such a shocking development he doesn’t know what else to say. “iwa-chan, you’re telling me someone at seijoh had the _balls_ to hit on you, knowing perfectly well that you’re my sidekick?”

“why are you so possessive,” hajime grumbles, throwing an arm out and pushing tooru over. “am i not allowed to have friends or get hit on?”

“um, no?”

“tooru.” 

“what! you’re supposed to belong to me and only me. did you forget that _you_ proposed to _me?”_

“when we were five!”

he stares at hajime, confused as to how that fact is relevant here. “what does that matter? we promised to be best friends forever when we were five too, does that one not count?”

hajime’s mouth clamps shut as he glares at tooru. “you…” he trails off, but his expression slowly changes from irritated to questioning. “going by that logic, that means that you _want_ to marry me, because you said yes.” 

uh oh. a million and one regrets begin to stack up within his mind. one being, that he completely lets his guard down around hajime, and another that he said _yes_ and hajime _remembers._ it takes no time at all for tooru’s face to turn the colour of a tomato, and he says with a grunt, his hands moving to push hajime back, “that’s not the point!”

but hajime has always been the stronger of the two (a fact he was much too proud of and that greatly annoyed tooru most of the time), and easily caught both his hands in only one. “tooru-kun,” he drawls his name out, a smirk slowly starting to take form as he both pulls tooru closer and leans towards him. “don’t tell me that you _still_ want to marry me?”

he feels as if steam is about to start pouring out of his ears with how hot his face feels, and hajime is only making it _worse_ by closing so much of the distance between them so easily. sure, tooru has had a crush on hajime for the longest time ever, and sure, they’ve been all up in each other’s faces before, but never like _this._ his heart is beating so loudly, he’s worried hajime can hear it. “iwa-chan, don’t you think you’re acting a bit full of yourself here?” he says, trying to laugh it off but it comes out awkward and panicked. he can’t help it, not when hajime’s face is _right there._

“it’s probably because i’ve spent too much time around you,” hajime responds easily. “and whose fault is that anyway?”

“blame it on my natural leadership qualities?”

“i don’t think so.” and tooru really didn’t think it was possible for them to be this close together, hajime’s calm breaths gently blowing over his skin burning skin. “no matter what i do, you just won’t let me go, huh?”

tooru swallows harshly, but as nervous as he is, everything about hajime makes him feel calm. his body slowly becoming less stiff, all he can manage to say is, “don’t you think it took you way too long to figure that one out? i know i’m the brains between the two of us, iwa-chan, but—”

he finds it very rude that hajime shuts him up with a kiss. 

he only thinks that for about 0.3 seconds though, before his hands are falling onto hajime’s chest and clutching tightly at the fabric of his shirt. tooru feels as if his entire body is turning into putty, and he is more than happy to let hajime mold him however he wants. 

tooru had always imagined what kissing hajime would be like; a little on the rough side, the brute that he is, but full of compassion and breathtakingly gentle. he can’t say that was completely off, but his imagination doesn’t even come _close_ to the real thing. 

he doesn’t know when he ends up with his back on the floor, gasping for breath as they pull away from each other after what feels like all the time in the world and no time at all. hajime is looking down at him with his eyes blown wide and his lips cherry red, and tooru thinks he’s never looked more beautiful. 

“how the fuck did you learn how to do that?” he spits out without even thinking about it. 

“porn mags.”

_“ew!”_

hajime only laughs, before ducking down and kissing him again, even gentler than before, as if tooru will flutter away with the wind. luckily for him, tooru really doesn’t want to be anywhere else right now. “i also thought about it a lot,” hajime whispers, dragging his lips away from tooru’s and going over random spots on his face. his nose, his cheeks, the corner of his mouth. “the best way to make you mine for once, instead of the other way around.”

tooru blushes hard but his hands are still tangled up in hajime’s shirt, so there isn’t anywhere at all for him to hide. “you’re not the first person to confess their fantasies about me, you know.”

“probably not,” hajime knows well enough how many confessions tooru’s gotten, and also how many he's rejected. “but i _am_ going to be the last.”

and hajime has never been one to back out on his promises, thus all tooru can do is smile and kiss him again. 

* * *

“—and that’s the story.”

hanamaki and matsukawa are staring at tooru with equally disgusted faces, whereas hajime has become as stiff as a statue. the only proof that he’s alive is the redness of his ears and the twitch in his hands, as if he’s holding himself back from smacking the shit out of tooru.

“i know we’re your best friends,” hanamaki starts, slowly pushing his plate of food away from himself. tooru wonders belatedly if it was a good idea to meet up at a restaurant. 

“but seriously, TMI.” matsukawa finishes. sometimes they’re even more in sync than himself and hajime. tooru finds it ultra creepy. 

“i didn’t even say all of it! listen closely, virgins. so, we’re lying there, and hajime is like, ‘do you want to go on the bed—’”

“oh my _god,_ shut up!” hajime finally snaps, slapping his hands over tooru’s mouth. his ears are burning even brighter. tooru only laughs and licks at his hand. 

when hajime still doesn’t move, panic immediately fills his veins. “iwa-chan—”

“not gonna work anymore. you’ve already shoved your tongue down my throat.”

tooru screams but the sound is muffled. 

“iwaizumi?!”

“dude, we’re still here. come on.”

somehow, hanamaki and matsukawa bring some sense back into hajime, who relaxes back into his seat, looking embarrassed beyond belief. tooru tries to at least look a little bit remorseful. maybe he could’ve spared _some_ details, after all. 

“anyway!” he cheers instead, clapping his hands together. “your favourite people in the entire world are finally together! isn’t that super cute of us? we’re totally power couple status now!”

hanamaki, at the very least, does look happy for them. “congrats,” he says, putting out his fist for each of them to bump. “took you long enough.” 

next to him, matsukawa snorts. _“seriously._ god, do you know how awful it was to get texts from both of you being like, ‘i’m going to cry! he doesn't like me back! it’s over!’”

tooru begins to feel his own face heat up when hanamaki laughs and adds on, “right! ‘i’ll never be happy, i’m going to disappear forever! he’s cheating on me with kyushu girls!’ dramatic much?”

“iwa-chan, i think we should take it upon ourselves to find new friends.”

“agreed.”

* * *

tooru has always loved summer. long days and longer nights, hands sticky from ice cream, celebrating his and hajime’s birthdays. the warmth of the sun and the laughter of children playing, free from the shackles of school, always made him feel so good. to him, summer was the perfect time to go all out: to take risks, become a child again, and be grateful for everything that he has. 

“was it hard?” hajime asks. they’re sitting on the swings at a nearby park, the same one where they came to play for the first time. tooru turns his head to look at him, a question on his face. “waiting, i mean.”

he purses his lips and kicks his feet back to push off the ground. “not really. we were always together, and you never said much about my jokes, so i just let it be. but i missed you a lot,” he slows down again, lets his feet drag in the sand. “too much, probably. dai-chan got the worst of it.”

hajime laughs and shakes his head. “i knew you were the jealous type, but don’t you think you were a little brutal after graduation?”

“i couldn’t help it! thinking about someone else snatching you away from me was so scary,” it’s almost painful how honest he’s being after years of hiding all these feelings. his shoulders slump and he pouts in hajime’s direction. “i’m sorry.” 

“i know, it’s okay,” hajime says gently. “if it makes you feel better, i think even before i knew, i was jealous of all those girls around you, too.”

“it sounds like i was your gay awakening.”

he gets an eye roll but hajime doesn’t deny it either, honest to a fault. “as shitty as you are, you were still my best friend, and i wanted to have you all to myself,” he continues. 

tooru frowns. “did you need to call me shitty?”

“you will always be shittykawa to me.” 

“is that any way you should be talking to your boyfriend?!”

“yes.” hajime stands up then, and moves so that he’s standing in front of tooru. he holds out a hand that tooru grabs without hesitation, standing up alongside him. “because other than—getting eloped, and adopting a bunch of cats together, i don’t want much else between us to change.” he reaches into his pocket, and pulls out something small. smiling, he holds it out to tooru, and says softly, “happy birthday, tooru.” 

“it’s the end of august.”

“just fucking take it, what the fuck?!”

and tooru does, gently prying it from hajime’s hand. it’s a charm, small enough that he can attach it to his phone—a little teal and white uniform with the number 4 on it. when he looks up, hajime is showing off his own matching charm with the number 1. 

the tears come immediately, but hajime has always been there to wipe them away, calloused hands holding oikawa’s face so tenderly and he feels so _loved._ “sorry i’m late.”

tooru just shakes his head, hands clamping around the charm as he lets his head fall onto hajime’s shoulder. “you’re not late, iwa-chan. you’re perfect. thank you.”

“i should mention that you’re an ugly crier, by the way.” 

“MOOD. KILLER.”

but tooru, who had been feeling lonely for months on end, finally feels the distance between them close completely, and lets himself be enveloped within a love that was always his.

sadness in the summer never lasted. tooru had been convinced when a boy with golden skin made him a promise and held him so tight, decades later he still hadn’t let go. 

* * *

(“does this make us boyfriends now?”

“what would give you that impression?”

“well, you basically told me that you want to marry me and almost put your dick inside of me.”

“oi, shittykawa, was it really necessary to say it like that?”

“of course, iwa-chan! now that you’ve officially snagged _the_ oikawa tooru, it’s my job to keep you humble!”)

**Author's Note:**

> 10k later here we are ;-; i love iwaoi so much... writing this was so easy i'm kind of sad it's over
> 
> thank u so much for reading!


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